Dueling Hearts
by AngelikLady
Summary: Crossover with YuGiOh! Utena transfers to another school. There she meets some interesting people, including someone who might help take her mind off past troubles. But what happens when past troubles come looking for her? Will contain het & slash.
1. Starting Over

Dueling Hearts

Yu-Gi-Oh!/Revolutionary Girl: Utena crossover

I do not own any rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! or Revolutionary Girl: Utena. I wish I did, but I don't.

Chapter 1: Starting Over

Tenjou Utena sighed as she smoothed the lapels of her new uniform. It had been six months since her duel with End of the World. Six months of recovery and rehabilitation from the wounds inflicted on her by Himemiya Anthy and Akio-san. Her name and reputation were worth less than nothing, now. This she knew without ever setting foot back on the campus. She had no need. Utena had far too good an understanding of how Akio-san and his pet student council worked to believe anything else.

And so, the young duelist left Ohtori Academy behind her. She would miss Wakaba. She would try very hard to not miss Himemiya. The others… her feelings for everyone else she left behind were very mixed. Miki was such a sweet boy, and his music could move a stone to tears. She hoped he found some peace in his rocky relationship with his sister. Kozue was… complicated, and her obsession—sometimes positive, sometimes negative—with her twin brother was unnerving. It was also a terrible burden on any friendship Utena had had with Miki.

Saionji had far too little respect for the feelings of others. He was self-centered to a degree that almost gave Touga a run for his yen. Yet despite his mistreatment of the Rose Bride, he had ultimately proven himself not a total bastard. After all, who didn't want just a glimpse of something eternal?

Touga. The student council president never knew when to let her go. He had persisted in his pursuit of her after she made it apparent that she wasn't interested. The ridiculous fiascos with Nanami that followed were a blot on the good memories Utena had from Ohtori. Yet Utena couldn't help but remember her last meeting with Touga at the dueling arena. Could he have meant everything that he had said? Could it all have been an unfortunate result of his first true taste of love? His love of her, Tenjou Utena? She would probably never know.

Juri-san was perhaps even more complicated than Touga. There had always been an odd feeling of comfort and discomfort around the fencing team captain. For some reason, Utena could not resist the feeling that had circumstances been different—had there been no duels, no End of the World, no Rose Bride, no Shiori—their relationship would have been a lot… closer.

Thoughts of Akio-san and Himemiya were attached to the most complicated of all her feelings, but she tried not to think of them. Now, especially, on her first day at a new school was not a time to think of them.

When the bell rang, it caught Utena by surprise. Her first day, and she was late!

"Shimatta!" she cursed as she ran into the school.

* * *

Yugi was bored. He looked around while he waited for homeroom to start, but nothing very interesting was going on. Jounochi was asleep on his desk. Honda and Otogi were both writing love letters to Shizuka. Bakura was reading. And Kaiba was typing furiously on his laptop, probably working on some project for his company. Yugi let out a low sigh.

/Mou hitori no boku?/ he called out hopefully through his link with the spirit of the millennium puzzle, but all he got back was a sleepy grumble, followed by silence. His yami didn't really like mornings very much.

Resigning himself to boredom, Yugi decided that staring out the window was as good a way to occupy his time as anything else. He was surprised when he turned his head to gaze out at the front of the school's campus. There was a girl out there with pink hair, and she was… wearing a boy's uniform? He blinked, but the sight didn't change. She had long pink hair, which would have seemed kind of weird, except that he felt he wasn't really in a position to judge. She looked young, but he knew from personal experience that might be deceptive. She was obviously new. Her uniform looked pristine in the way that only a uniform being worn for the first time can look. Plus, she was looking at the school like she wasn't sure what to think.

When the bell rang for homeroom, Yugi grinned to see the girl jump and sprint for the front door. He didn't know why she was in such a hurry now. She was already late.

He was surprised a few minutes later to see the classroom door open while Matsuda-sensei was taking roll. He was even more surprised to see the principal enter, leading the pink-haired girl. She gazed defiantly around the classroom as though challenging someone to say something about her or her clothes.

The principal spoke softly with Matsuda-sensei, indicating the girl with a hand gesture. Matsuda-sensei seemed upset, probably about the uniform. The principal cut him off in mid-sentence with a terse whisper, then turned to leave.

"It's highly irregular, sir," Matsuda-sensei said as the principal was exiting the room.

"I am aware of that, but circumstances dictate the situation. Good day, Matsuda." And with that, the principal was gone, shutting the door behind him. The room stilled into an awkward silence for a brief moment, until Matsuda-sensei recalled himself.

Clearing his throat, he addressed the class. "Students, meet Tenjou Utena. Tenjou is a transfer student this year. Normally, she would be joining the freshman class, as she has only just completed her middle school work. However, due to the advanced curriculum at Ohtori Academy and her high scores on the placement exams, she has been placed in the junior class instead. I trust you will all make her feel welcome."

Turning to Tenjou, Matsuda-sensei indicated the seat across from Yugi. "You will be seated next to Mutou, as that is the only available desk. In the future, I will also expect you to arrive before the homeroom bell."

Blushing now, Tenjou made her way to the seat next to Yugi.

When Matsuda-sensei had finished taking roll, Yugi turned to speak with her. "Pleased to meet you, Tenjou-san. I'm Yugi."

She smiled, and Yugi immediately liked her. "Well, if I'm to call you Yugi, then you must call me Utena. Alright?"

"Sure, Utena-san!" Yugi agreed. "Can I ask you something?"

"I don't see why not," Utena answered.

"Why did you transfer to Domino? I've heard that Ohtori Academy is one of the best schools in all of Japan. It must be, if the middle school curriculum prepared you to enter junior year here. So why did you leave?"

"Erm… well, I kind of got on the wrong side of the chairman. Nothing he could technically expel me for, but I was strongly encouraged to go somewhere else this year."

Just then, the bell rang for first period.

"Ano… could you help me find my class, Yugi?" Utena asked, glad for an excuse to cut the previous conversation short.

"No problem, Utena-san!" he answered, happily leading the way.

**End of the first chapter of my first fanfic. Please R&R!**


	2. She Has Danced

Dueling Hearts

Yu-Gi-Oh!/Revolutionary Girl: Utena crossover

I do not own any rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! or Revolutionary Girl: Utena. I wish I did, but I don't.

Chapter 2: She Has Danced

Tenjou Utena was relieved to have met someone as friendly as Yugi on her first day. She counted herself very fortunate. She could hardly believe he was two years older, based on his appearance. If anything, he looked even younger than she was.

Utena smiled sadly as she remembered another boy who looked young for his years. Of course, Miki did not appear quite so young as Yugi did, but it seemed everything reminded her in some painful way of her time at Ohtori… even her new friend. She supposed that was to be expected, since she hadn't been gone for that long. Hopefully it would fade over time. Utena really had no desire to pine after her old school. Good memories were far too entangled with things she didn't want to remember at all.

The key, she told herself, was in making new memories to supplant the old.

* * *

The tiny screen glowed up at her, full of life, just like the owner of the displayed name should have been. But it was no surprise when the light blinked out. 

Arisugawa Juri closed her phone. She wondered why everyone had waited so long after Ruka died to tell her. Maybe they had just assumed that she already knew. Now that she did know, she wasn't sure how she felt about what he had done. It wasn't his place to try and change how she lived her life. And yet… she was much happier without her obsession. She still felt powerfully protective of Shiori, and the attraction had not left, but she could see the bad as well. Shiori's manipulations and her hunger for power—to have it or to be near it—would always ruin everything. Juri wasn't sure she could stand to be near Shiori. Her internal conflict when the other girl was around could absolutely cripple her judgment. Then again, her judgment had been failing her for awhile. Ever since a new duelist was brought to the attention of Ohtori's student council last semester.

Juri had hated Utena for a long time. The girl-prince was so like and unlike Shiori at the same time. She was everything that was good and innocent in Shiori, but where Shiori shored up her character with the rotting detritus of pain and covetousness, Utena's character was built upon the shining and unbending spine of honest pride and courage.

Her hand wandered to the neck of her uniform jacket and hovered above the locket that was concealed there. Inside, the tiny picture of a smiling girl had pink hair instead of violet.

* * *

Yugi was thrilled to find that Utena's schedule matched his own. Nonetheless, fifth period Anatomy was simply awful. Yugi was too short to properly view and reach the dissection tray on the table. He consoled himself with the thought that he really had no desire to dissect some poor, formerly living thing. Across from him, Utena seemed to have everything well in hand, anyway. 

"Do you need any help, Tenjou-san?" he asked, hoping she would say no.

"I'm doing fine, Yugi," she answered, smiling. "No offense, but I'm not sure how much help you'd be when you can't really see what you'd be doing. And I told you to call me Utena."

"Right. Sorry, Utena-san."

She continued with the project, finally wiping her forehead with a grimy hand just minutes before the bell rang.

When the teacher came around to see their work, the two students were embarrassed to hear her announce, "Excellent! Class, notice the extra care that Tenjou and Mutou have taken not to slice, scrape, or rupture any of the internal structures. You should all pay so much attention to your work."

Luckily for the mortified pair, the bell rang just then. Yugi and Utena grabbed their books and left the room as quickly as they could. They walked toward their next class in a silence that spoke of their shared discomfort, and when they arrived at the classroom, Utena smiled awkwardly at the short boy.

"Sorry to draw so much attention. I didn't realize she would do such a thing, or I wouldn't have put you on the spot like that. If you like, you don't have to be my partner."

"N-no!" Yugi exclaimed in shock. "I don't want that at all. Utena-san, I enjoy working with you. You're very kind. Usually my partners sabotage my grades." The last sentence was said in a mumble that the pink-haired girl almost didn't catch.

Utena reached out to rest a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "It's quite alright," she said. "I'll be your partner."

Startled at the informality of the gesture, Yugi looked up at Utena and blushed.

"Um, thanks!" he managed not to stutter. "I guess we should get inside, though, before the bell rings for Literature."

* * *

"…and when she put her hand on my shoulder, I couldn't have acted more like a fool! I barely kept myself from being so tongue-tied I couldn't remember my name." 

Yugi paced back and forth in front of the mirror in his room. In the mirror floated another form startling similar to the short duelist.

"Aibou, I am certain that she does not think you a fool. I understand why you would react in such a manner," the pharaoh said.

"Really?" Yugi stopped his pacing to face his other self in the mirror. "Why, Yami? Why did I make such a fool of myself with the first new friend I've made in such a long time?"

"Well, she is quite striking. She carries herself like a duelist, with a noble bearing. In her eyes it is possible to see the depth of her courage and the quality of her character. Such a truly good person is rare. I know of only one other." Though the pharaoh's face was grave, his eyes smiled out at his hikari, making his meaning plain.

Yugi thought about what his other self had said. It was true. When he looked at Tenjou Utena, there was only nobility. Even the unconscious duplicity most people had and which came from separating public and private self was missing. She wore no masks.

"What do you mean when you say she carries herself like a duelist, though?" Yugi asked of the dark spirit.

"I can not explain it properly, but I know that she has seen battle, and danced the steps of danger. I do not believe her battles have been the same as ours, however."

Yugi turned his head to look out his bedroom window, frowning thoughtfully. "A duelist…"


End file.
